Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-09-15
ALFALFA Or LucERN.
The Plain Truth About tfe Much Talked
OF Forage PLANT.

There Is considerable interest inst
! now existing in regard to the forage
plant commonly known as alfalfa
This is the Spanish name Of lucern, q
plant of the leguminous tribe closely
resembling clover. and commonly Gull
| tivated in Europe for green fodder Ii
differs from clover, however. in having
more woody stalks, slenderer leaves, q
purplish flower. and legume or pod.
which is coiled spirally and contains
several seeds 1t is native of Spain,
and thriyes best in hot, somewhat dr5
climates, and produces enormously
when irrigated. In the northern Ital-
ian provinces it is commonly grown in
this way, and is cut several times in a
season, producing in the aggregate
sixty to eighty inches of heritage in the
growing season. 1t is perennial, and
when kept free from weeds and ma
nured occasionally it continues to yield
abundantly for twenty years. never
being permitted to seed, however.
1t is not a good hay plant unless it
is cut quite young and cured with lit
tie exposure to the sun, but as green
fodder plant it is unexcelled. AS COM
pared with clover it is sixteen per cent.
richer in albuninoids, thirty-three per
cent. richer in fat, and eight or nine
per cent. poorer in carbohydrates, and
has twenty per cent. more woody fibre,
to which it owes its inferiority as a
hay plant. 1t is an excellent food when
cut green for all farm animals, for
which use it is extensively cultivated
in California. and might be made very
valuable in the Southern States.
AS it has been made Il subject for
much discussion recently in the leading
agricultural journals. and has been fire.
quently written of with more favor. we
think, than it deserves. it is perhaps
desirable to mention its disadvantages
as compared with the only crop with
which it comes into competition, as
well as to notice all its valuable char
acteristics. This we do from personal
experience with it, having grown it
more than twenty years ago as forage
crop and abandoned its culture as less
profitab bic and convenient than that of
red clover for ordinary farm purposes.
1t has never been extensively grown
where clover fourishes, and in such To-
calities has been sown more as an ex-
pertinent than for use, and when SO
sown has always fallen into neglect
and disuse. 1t is of no use as a tenn
porary crop grown in rotation. because
of it's cost and the slowness with which
it comes to maturity. 1t requires a
special culture, must be sown alone
and upon rich soil in the cleanest con-
dition, for it is quite unable to resist
weeds. and when in its first weak. slow
growth is quickly smOthered and
stunted, consequently it is necessary to
manure the soil well and to sow the
seed in drills twelve or sixteen inches
apart and to cultivate crop frequently
until it covers the ground. The seed
is costly, twenty pounds per acre is re-
q1ired, and the price is twenty-five
cents per pound. 1t can not be grazed
as clover may be nor is it more prolific
than clover.
These are its disadvantages, and it is
easily perceived that as a competitor
with clover it can not be proftably
substituted for it in ordinary farm cult
ure where clover does its best. And
when clover is plowed under after it
has served its purpose so well for two
or three years it furnishes to the soil a
much larger quantity of valuable plant
food than is contributed by alfalfa
Alfalfa fourishes most luxuriantly
upon the rich river bottoms of the
California valleys. known as tule
lands, and upon the rich dry lands of
Colorado and other localities of the far
West, where the climate is dry and ir-
rigation is practiced. There it is at
its best, but the conditions under which
it luxuriates being so different from
those prevailing elsewhere show plainly
that it is not suitable plan for ordi-
nary farming where clover is at its best.
Nevertheless, there are some localities
in the eastern part of the continent
where it may be found very useful. In
Florida and most of the Southern
States, for instance, 1t will find con-
genial home and may be used most adj
vantageously for summer feeding as
green fodder; but its exacting charac-
ter in regard to culture should not be
lost sight of, for it will refuse to grow
under the same conditions in which
clover would yield a fair crop and
would utterly fail under the common
system of culture which prevails in the
South.
The manner of preparing the soil for
alfalfa is much the same as that for any
other spring crop. The land should
be deeply plowed, and if not rich
enough to bring seventy-fve bushels Of
corn or three tons of timothy and
clover per acre it must be made so by
liberal manuring. The land must also
be cleared of weeds by previous sum-
mer following, and this clean culture
is indispensable. The soil is brought
to a fine filth by repeated narrowing,